Support E&E Family Farm's Hurricane Recovery

My name is Yvette Rego and I’m Mercedes Essmann's best friend. She is the owner of E&E Family Farm in Seffner, Florida.

The beloved E&E Family Farm took a big hit from Hurricane Milton last week!! We have been working day and night for an entire week to get the farm, the animals, the venue, and Mercedes' parents into a recovery process, but it will take some time, unfortunately.

Although the entire venue and home took a tremendous hit from the hurricane, we are happy to report that it is ALL still standing… that is the good part! Given the circumstances, we are trying to be as positive as we can.

The entire property sustained a lot of water and damage; some animals have passed away, but we are happy to report we found most of them living! We have had a tremendous amount of help from our local farm supporters, friends, family, and even the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office with their rescue. The water is finally receding (and because of your kindness) we were able to get food to the cows, goats, and chickens (by canoe ). We did lose all of our stock of winter feed, and our pastures will not supply foraging for a long time.

The home that Mercedes' 85-year-old parents live in, the barn venue, animal barn, and chicken coop were all underwater Almost everything has been destroyed by the hurricane

Normally, we would never ask for help from anyone, but we have done all that we could possibly do in the last week to clean up. We have been blessed with some really amazing angels that have volunteered their time (and feed for our animals) over this last week, and we are truly grateful.

We have been working around the clock to get this beautiful farm back to the serenity we love so we can share it with you again very soon.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel the rest of October photo shoots and events, but our goal is to get the venue back in working order by November 1.

Our goal for this GoFundMe is to keep our animals fed, get Mercedes' parents back into their home (they lost everything), and to get the bungalow and studio back up for the traditional Holiday Pics everyone takes.

We know everyone is having a hard time after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, but if you are able and feel inclined, we would truly appreciate the generosity. We can’t thank this community enough for the love and support you’ve shown E&E Family Farm over the years. Mercedes and her parents have owned this farm property since 1988 and have never experienced devastation or loss while being here. We pray this never happens to this beautiful farm venue or any of us in the community again.

Thank you all for your support and God Bless